You’d think that southern states, what with more warm weather days, would represent the highest motorcycle ownership rates. Wrong! From the Motley Fool:

As of the most recent report by the Department of Transportation, there were 8,410,255 motorcycles registered in the United States by private citizens and commercial organizations in 2011. To put this staggering number into perceptive, out of every 36 people you meet in the U.S., one of them probably has a motorcycle. For ranking purposes, we won’t be looking at total bikes in a state, but rather people per motorcycle (the lower the number, the more common bikes are). So what states in America have the most die-hard moto-enthusiasts?

Rank

State

# Bikes

Population

People per bike

1

South Dakota

69,284

816,598

12

2

New Hampshire

79,266

1,316,807

17

3

Iowa

173,929

3,050,202

18

4

Wisconsin

317,276

5,691,659

18

5

Wyoming

30,351

564,554

19

6

North Dakota

32,654

674,629

21

7

Vermont

30,070

625,909

21

8

Montana

46,996

990,958

21

9

Minnesota

240,288

5,310,658

22

10

Alaska

30,983

714,146

23

See all 50 states’ data at the link.

8 Responses to “Northerners Love Their Bikes”

The north loves them more because it’s too dang hot down here in the south. Only stupid people ride motorcycles without proper leather gear, and that just adds to the heat. Just try to put on a leather jacket and helmet when it is 110 out. No thanks.

Concurring argument, Ryan. When it is really hot, it’s stupid to ride *without* a leather jacket. Sucks the moisture right out of you, making frequent beer stops a health necessity.

Synthetic slippery stuff may (for the last 40 years) offer similar protection, but my experience was that by the time you poked enough holes in them to let the hot out, the garment would inflate like a bad skating suit and try to pull your arms off.

I have no doubt that some manufacturer, with the displacements and HP ratings now being tugged in to the quay on large cruisers, has worked out a way to air-condition them. H-D and York A/C both in the same town: can’t be a coincidence.

Leather isn’t the only protective equipment to available for riding motorcycles. There are some excellent textile choices available.

For the heat, there’s mesh. Wearing mesh gear is like wearing a screen door–air passes right through it. With mesh you’re actually cooler than wearing just a T-shirt. The gear keeps the sun off your skin while allowing the air to move over your body drying any sweat. Mesh does not “inflate like a bad skating suit”.

This is kind of interesting since I live in Texas and know a lot of folks who ride motorcycles and our state is right down, close to the bottom of the list. I would also think it has something to do with income, ethnic mix and perhaps age. We do have a lot of poor folks down here who are not middle income and up and middle age and up white guys and that is the make up of the folks I see on bikes.

I am not a motorcycle guy but I do like seeing all of the nice big bikes that come into Luckenbach Texas on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon when I drive 30 minutes up there to have a beer and watch people. The Texas Hill Country seems to be a fun destination area for motorcycle riding, especially this time of year.

Magus, the “protection” of riding gear is not against the sun. You’re going to have a fascinating road-rash pattern there. The new tattoo?

I used to be dismissive of synthetic friction-protecting fabrics, but I was impressed by an inspired sales pitch one day at Laguna Seca in 1977. The booth-guy said “Leather is great as far as it goes, but how many cows do you see doing 170?” Had to admit, he had a point there. What’s the terminal velocity of a flying Nauga, though?

South Dakota: Sturgis annual rally, lots of bikes to rent and don’t forget that lots of folks who live in their RVs have a “mailbox residence” in SD so their vehicles are all inexpensively registered there and many have tow-trailer bikes.

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Started in October of 2002, Alphecca is an occasional blog of OPINIONS by a libertarian, gay gun-nut living in Vermont. Book reviews, politics, gun stuff, other stuff; it’s all here. Your opinions about my opinions are welcome in the comments and as I always say, thank’s for stopping by.